If the owner of the JC Raceteknik team has made the bet to introduce the young Lukas Andersson in the Supercar Lites category, Joël Christoffersson clearly does not regret his choice.
Indeed, after four races this year, the rookie of the category has already celebrated his first steps at this level with a total of three wins.
With five best qualifying times out of the 12 runs since Nysum, Lukas Andersson has also scored 103 of the 120 points available since the start of the 2023 season.
A performance that Joel Christoffersson is very happy about.
“We only had two days of testing before the start of the championship, but the conditions were far from ideal as it was raining,” recalls Joel Christoffersson.
“Nevertheless, it was a good preparation that allowed us to approach the Nysum stage without any pressure. Our first objective was to make sure that Lukas could have fun behind the wheel. Our role this year is to help him and to support him as best we can to allow him to progress”
However, things went much faster than expected for the 15 year old Swede. This weekend, Lukas Andersson will enter the race in Kouvola as the championship leader and with a three-point advantage over Simon Olofsson.
“Before the championship started, we said that our goal was to gain experience every weekend. In our minds, qualifying for a final was just a bonus, but it also gave us the opportunity to gain more experience and kilometers. However, Lukas did an incredible job in the final as early as race 1 in Nysum. The fact that the track was watered just before the final was also a factor in his favor, as his preseason practice was conducted in the rain. Nevertheless, his speed was already incredible and race 2 at Nysum only reinforced that impression.”
“I knew he had the potential and that it wouldn’t be long before he was fast, but to be able to repeat such lap after lap with such consistency is clearly what impressed me the most.”
A fact that Lukas Andersson confirmed again at Tierp in early May by conquering his third success of the 2023 season. Nevertheless, Joel Christoffersson has no intention of changing his approach with his young protégé.
“For Lukas, it can’t be easy to live this situation when the media and the public start talking about you when you are just 15 years old. However, he handles it very well. He is very calm and very rigorous in the preparation of his races. I am really happy to work with such a driver profile. I hope we can continue this collaboration in the future. Lukas has a real natural talent in terms of driving. I have never seen such a precociousness in a driver before. Even if times are not so easy to make career choices in motorsport, Lukas is only 15 years old so that gives us time to work and help him to develop. For now, we’ll focus on RallyX for a few seasons and then we’ll see how far it can take him.”
